respiratory sinus arrhythmia or flutter or ectopic or something else

[Bazman29]

Hi I have found this forum very useful reading others posts so hopefully some of you may able to share some insights for me.

I’m an athletic 52yr old male who has exercised hard all my adult life and now suffering from 2 symptoms. I’ve had an echo, ECG and holter and now prescribed Flecinide and Bisoprolol for last 3 months. I’ve not actually seen an EP due to cancellations so these were arranged over phone.

I was having classic vagal paroxysmal AF circa weekly, always started during sleep, lasted circa 24/48 hours and often reversed via exercise. The meds seem to have fixed that.

But my 2nd symptom is still present, quite troublesome and a bit of an enigma to me and I never really got a clear explanation of it. I continue to suffer from extremely marked heart rate variability on inhalation lasting a few seconds. It comes and goes, usually worse at night or lying down, and I can easily self induce it via controlled breathing. It feels very irregular, often with a classic ectopic ‘thump’ at the end. I’m also suffering terrible abdominal discomfort which I’m not sure is related or maybe due to meds.

Does this resonate with anyone? Is this RSA or ectopics which I read are both essentially benign? Or flutter maybe or a variant of AF or something else? It’s not pleasant and I worry it’s damaging my heart.

Any experience, views or thoughts much appreciated.

[BigDunc]

Hi I have similar symptoms to yourself albeit 10 years older

Always trained hard all my life but recently diagnosed with moderate coronary artery disease during a routine scan as I’ve been on Flecainide for the last 13 years

As my plumbing isn’t what it used to be can’t take Flecainide any longer.

Like yourself I’m now going into AF weekly for around 40 hours always at night in bed convinced it’s Vagal my resting BPM is usually 50 but in the 40s now using Bisoprosol

This week I’m still in in AF after 4 days longest I’ve ever been in it and tolerating it not bad still having daily workout

Your variations on breathing sound like ectopics which can be controlled with breathing exercises

I recommend you go on onto York Cardiology YouTube Sanjay Gupta the Cardiologist is brilliant and does some excellent videos on Vagal AF, stomach related arrhythmia and ectopics hope this helps

[KMRobbo]

I used to go running to STOP afib , 5 to 7 minutes was all it needed. Sadly after 20 months and about 12 attacks the trick stopped working

Your description sounds like a mini AFIB attack to me ( not medically trained) that starts but does not continue.

[Madscientist16]

Did your second symptom start AFTER you started the meds? When I was put on heart rate medication after my AF diagnosis, I would have this weird sensation that started like a PVC with a pause, then a brief tachycardia with a thud to finish. It became less frequent the longer I was on the meds. Since my ablation, I have not experienced it again (I am also not on any meds now.)